Arsenic sat at the window and watched as her brother walked to school. Pico turned and offered a sad wave up to his sister and then continued down the path towards the local school. Sighing, Arsenic turned away from the window and wandered downstairs to the living room where her mother was washing pots.

"Hey Arsenic," her mother said cheerfully, back turned to her daughter, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"When can I go to school with Pico?" She asked. Sumatra paused, sighed and lowered the pots into the sink. Drying her hands, she turned to look at her daughter who was sat at the table, looking despondent. Arsenic was only eight years old and, although she showed maturity beyond her years, she couldn't seem to understand why people treated her differently.

"I'm sorry, dear, but I don't think you can," Sumatra explained sadly, "Even though you're the same to us, not everyone in the village seems the same way and I don't think it's the right time for you to go to school yet."

Arsenic looked down and stared at the dark rings that patterned the table. She knew she was a bad person but she tried not to be. She always tried to be good as possible and be kind but it never seemed to help. People just knew she was a bad child. Sumatra watched her sad daughter and looked at the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I know you're a good girl. So does Granny and Pico. And I promise things will change someday so no one will think you're bad ever again," she said softyly. Arsenic didn't respond and tried her hardest not to cry. She didn't want her mother to know she was upset or even worse - think it was her fault. Arsenic had only lived with the Suarez family for a year but they were the only family she'd ever had and she loved them more than anything. As the tears managed to sneak out of her eyes, she tried to stop her whimpers being heard through her voice.

"I'm sorry Mother," she sobbed. Sumatra held her daughter close and stroked her dark silky hair.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, dear. It's the rest of the galaxy that should be sorry," she whispered. She grabbed her daughter's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "You listen to me. You never ever be sorry for who you are. Don't be sorry for how you look, what your starsign is, anything! You are a lovely, kindhearted girl and if people can't accept that, you don't need them!"

Arsenic wiped her eyes and looked up appreciatingly at her mother and whispered her thanks to her. Sumatra gave her daughter one last squeeze and wiped a tear away with her thumb.

Sumatra smiles lovingly at her daughter, "Plus Granny Ani needs you at the farm today!"

Arsenic grinned and jumped to her feet. She shouted her goodbyes to her mother and ran out the door. Granny Ani was the oldest resident of Masala Village and was a well known witch. Despite Lord Almond being in charge and owning all the land the village was built on, Granny Ani was the real leader of the village folk. Her chicken farm had been at the top of the hill for generations, overseeing the village, and no one went hungry for a single day with Granny Ani there. It had led to many arguments with Lord Almond, with an astonishing amount leading to Granny throwing her cane at him, over her feeding the homeless and downtrodden but it always remained the same.

Sister Aniseed watched over the village and in turn, the village respected her more so than any lord could have commanded.

Arsenic walked up the hill towards the brick cottage that stood at the top. She stopped at the chicken coops she passed and greeted them all good morning. The chickens all clucked in response and watched as the girl knocked at the front door.

The door opened and on the other side stood Sister Aniseed, head witch of the Baklava Solar System. She regarded her granddaughter with a small nod.

"Are you here to feed the chickens?" Arsenic nodded and Sister Aniseed passed her a small bucket of feed, "Good girl."

The door shut again and Arsenic made her way around the three chicken coops and opened them all, allowing the chickens to wander out. Rather than running mindlessly or attempting to run away, the chickens loyally followed their friend to the middle of the yard, forming a queue.

"Hello," Arsenic said brightly to the first chicken as she held out a handful of feed and carried on chatting to the chickens as they ate out of her palm. She knew them all by name and spoke to each of them. Other people didn't seem to warm to Arsenic. Chickens on the other hand, warmed to her and listened to everything she had to say.

Once the feed was gone, each chicken had been fussed over and the eggs were collected, Arsenic let herself into the cottage where Granny Ani was sat by the fireplace. On the table sat a boiled egg in a blue egg cup with a number of buttered bread soldiers. Sister Aniseed rocked silently in her rocking chair with Patty, an ancient hen that had lived on the farm for a ridiculous amount of time, sat on the floor beside her.

Once Arsenic had eaten, she turned to her Granny. Usually, there wouldn't be much chatter between the two as Granny didn't really participate in unnecessary talking.

"What is it?" Granny asked, sensing the girls eyes on her.

"Do you think I shouldn't go to school?"

Granny remained silent and rocked once more in her chair before coming to a stop.

"Where's this come from?"

"Pico goes to school every day except weekends. He always says he wishes I could go and I wish I could as well because I can't even really read yet. But Mother says I can't because of my starsign."

Sister Aniseed sighed silently and turned to look at her granddaughter. In her line of work, she'd helped many children who'd grown up in somewhat unfortunate situations, but Arsenic had really envoked sympathy in the witch. She saw the constant effort the girl put in to be accepted and she saw it constantly get thrown back in her face time after time.

"If you want to learn to read, I can help you."

"Thank you, Granny. Could you teach me to count as well?"

"Lassi, this is ridiculous. I feel embarrassed," Mokka stated as he watched his friend squirm up against the staffroom door, trying to listen in.

"Would you be quiet? I'm trying to listen!" She exclaimed angrily.

Everyone else was walking down the stairs when Sorbet peered over the bannister.

"What on earth are they doing?" She exclaimed and hurried down the stairs.

Pick and Arsenic looked at each other and followed her down the stairs as they headed towards the staffroom. Chai and Hyde walked out of a nearby classroom and watched as Sorbet ran up to Mokka and Lassi, Arsenic and Pico begrudgingly following her.

"What on earth is happening now?" Hyde complained.

"Lassi's been caught spying again, probably," Chai responded as they walked towards their friends.

Sorbet glared angrily at Lassi, "What do you think you're doing? Are you listening in?"

Lassi turned and scowled at everyone who was crowding round her, "Would you lot be quiet? I can hear them speaking!"

Inside the staffroom, Principal Biscotti stared out of his window and then turned to Miss Madeline.

"I'm afraid there's simply no other way, Madeline. You'll have to leave for Puffoon in the morning and the rest of the faculty will eagerly await your return."

Miss Madeline shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she looked up at the headmaster, "But...to the wind planet? Are you sure this is the only way?"

"Quite sure, Madeline. There seems to be some issues with a powerful wizard named Kale who's got a band of pirates wreaking havoc across the galaxy. Apparently, he used to be a student of yours. I imagine your magic skill and power will be necessary in removing him as a threat," Principal Biscotti shuffled slowly from the window to his desk where he took a seat and looked at Madeline, who was staring in front of her open mouthed.

"K-Kale?! The boy with the scruffy hair? He was so sensitive, how did this happen?"

Before Principal Biscotti could answer, the door burst open and Lassi ran it, panicked.

"Miss Madeline! You can't go to the wind planet! It's too dangerous you just can't!" She shouted.

Principal Biscotti nearly jumped out of his seat and moved his large hat off his face where it had fallen.

"Goodness Gracious! There's children running about shouting in the staffroom!" He stammered.

Mokka burst in, causing Biscotti to let out a little scream again.

"Miss Madeline! You're going away to fight evil pirates and wizards? This is highly alarming!" He exclaimed in his deadpan tone.

"Mokka, would you get out!" Biscotti yelled at his son.

Sorbet ran in, Chai and Pico at her heels, leaving Arsenic and Hyde in the doorway. They stared in at the chaos happening inside.

"They're going to get shouted at," Hyde commented.

Arsenic watched as Biscotti panicked again at this new wave of children ran into his office, "Definitely."

As more shouts erupted from the office, Hyde looked at his friend. Hyde was a very tall boy and as Arsenic aas very short, he often found himself looking down at her.

"Are we still going to go in though?" He asked her. She looked up at him.

"We might as well do. What are we going to do when they're shoved in detention?" And she wandered into the staffroom. Hyde opened his mouth to say something before following Arsenic into the staffroom.

"How many more of you is there?" Biscotti exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Children! This conversation wasn't meant for your curious little ears!" Miss Madeline scolded.

Sorbet ignored her and proceeded to yell at her.

"Miss Madeline, all this talk of the wind planet...are you really going into outer space?"

Miss Madeline opened her mouth and turned to Principal Biscotti who gestured out to the students. Miss Madeline sighed.

"Students, after classes have finished today I would like you all to meet me in the meditation room. Now, I must ask you to leave."

The students sat on the floor outside the meditation room, an uneasy silence filling them. Sorbet kept shooting glares at Lassi, who was taking great enjoyment in pretending she didn't realise and Chai was eating cheese biscuits.

"This is all your fault," Sorbet practically spat at Lassi, "I have never had detention before, ever. Now you come along and here I am."

"This isn't a detention!" Lassi laughed, "Is it?"

"No," Hyde replied, as he flipped through his Potions textbook, "Just a stern talking to."

"That's even worse," the water mage replies spitefully. Lassi exasperatedly gasped and began to argue with Sorbet. Pico, who was sat next to his sister, looked over at Chai.

"What have you got?"

"Cheesy snacks."

"Cheesy snacks? Give us some?"

Arsenic's head shot up.

"Who's got cheesy snacks?"

"Chai does."

Chai looked up to see Pico gazing at him, and his cheesy snacks, in wonderment. Arsenic was sat next to him, Boggart the toad in her hand, who also appeared to be looking at him. Arsenic noticed this and smiled.

"Maybe he thinks you're related or something. And that's why he likes you."

Chai scrunched his face up, "Why would he think that?"

"You're both green?" Pico shrugged.

"Is that racist?" Mokka asked, whilst Sorbet and Lassi continued bickering in the background.

Hyde slapped his knees and got up.

"I can't take much more of this, I'm going in."

Sorbet looked up, horrified.

"But she hasn't called us in yet!"

Hyde rolled his eyes and pulled a face at Sorbet, who looked unimpressed. He opened the doors to the meditation room and the others followed behind. It was a small, dark room, despite the large wall of windows that showcased the natural beauty of the shrubbery outside. The walls and floor were wood and there was a little stage at the windows with three purple cushions on the ground for meditation purposes. Upon the middle cushion, Miss Madeline was sat. The children stood there awkwardly.

"I bet she's asleep," Chai sighed.

"I bet she's dead," remarked Hyde, which earnt him an elbow in the ribs from Sorbet. They stood there in the silence for what seemed like forever, waiting for Miss Madeline to notice they were there.

"Someone needs to tell her we're here," Mokka suggested, "I'm five minutes away from leaving."

"No!" Sorbet exclaimed in shock but then nervously lowered her voice to a whisper, "You can't leave. Miss Madeline has never called us all together before, it's definitely something important."

"Isn't it possible she just wanted to shout at us all?" Lassi replied, "We did earwig at a meeting and barge in."

There was a moments silence.

"You can get executed for that in some places," Pico offered.

There was a second, more awkward, moments silence.

"Arsenic, go ask what's going on," Mokka sighed.

"Excuse me? Why me?" She retorted.

"Because you haven't said anything for ages."

"Yeah Arsenic, go ask her!" Sorbet agreed.

Arsenic rolled her eyes and made her way up the steps. She cast a few glances back to her friends, who all quickly turned away each time and sprung into fake conversations. Sighing, she made her way onto the stage and quietly sat down beside her teacher.

"Hello, Arsenic," Miss Madeline whispered.

"Hello, Miss. Have you been listening the whole time?"

"Indeed. Could you please inform Mr Hyde Hamilton that I am not dead?"

Arsenic nodded and shouted over to him.

"Hyde! She's says she's not dead!" There was a little chorus of giggles from her schoolmates and Arsenic turned back to her teacher. "What did you call us here for?"

Miss Madeline stood up and walked to the front of the stage where she addressed her pupils.

"My students. As you know, I am set to go on a rather perilous journey to Puffoon, the wind planet. I have been assured by Principal Biscotti that it is, indeed, an easy mission and I should be back here in time for your graduations," Miss Madeline explained, more stern and strong than she'd ever been in lessons, "However, I can't help but shake the feeling that something bad is to happen to me. Therefore, I'd like you all to be prepared."

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Arsenic, still on the stage behind Miss Madeline, peered out and looked at Lassi with shock. Lassi saw this, crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

"Miss Madeline," Hyde queried, "If you're going to teach us magic, I think I can be excused because of my...you know…"

"Impotence," Pico answered. Hyde punched him in the arm.

"It isn't called that, shut up!"

"I'm afraid you will not be excused, Hyde. I am not teaching you magic or any old spell flinging. I am going to teach you to fight," Miss Madeline frowned, tone darkening, "Now Arsenic seeing as you're already on the stage you can be my first volunteer."

Arsenic stood nervously on the stage as Miss Madeline walked to the side cupboard. She clicked her fingers and a small creature leapt from within the cupboard and onto the stage. It was a small beige dummy, roughly 3 ft tall.

"Awwwww, it's cute!" Lassi exclaimed, "Arsenic, don't attack him."

"I'm afraid she'll have to," Miss Madeline smiled, "Arsenic I want you to cast an attack spell on the dummy."

With eight pairs of eyes on her, Arsenic sighed and got ready. She didn't like casting spells, nothing else flaunted her dark magic shame more than casting spells of it. Nevertheless, she moved her hair out of her face, pushed her shoulders back and shouted an incantation. A large black box appeared in the sky glimmering softy with purple light, a countless measure of stars and galaxies contained within. Arsenic's friends wowed at the dark beauty of it and Miss Madeline gleamed with pride. Then, with a yell, Arsenic threw her hands forward and the box twirled through the air, settling on top of the dummy, leaving it trapped within. Then it began to shrink and shrink until it fully closed around the dummy and then vanished with one last black sparkle. The dummy winced in pain and shook in fear.

A silence passed through the room.

"That was unpleasant," Mokka eventually added.

"No it was beautiful! Arsenic, that spell is called 'Shadow Die' and it is a very powerful spell," Miss Madeline explained, "However, using magic will tire you out. The more powerful you become, smaller spells like this won't tire you out as much. As you gain power though, you'll learn stronger spells which will tire you out a lot more." The dummy got to its feet and looked at Arsenic angrily. Miss Madeline continued, "Don't panic though! Your magic power may wear out but there are other attacks you can use, like-"

Suddenly, the dummy launched itself at Arsenic. In a panic, she raised her boot and kicked the dummy at full strength, launching it across the room where it hit the wall.

Miss Madeline blinked, "Like that, actually."

"Take that, dummy!" Pico shouted, "Come for my sister and she'll take you down with her big boot whomper stompers!"

Arsenic turned angrily, "Pico, don't call my boots whomper stompers!"

"Dino crushers," Pico whispered.

"I'm glad you're so fired up, Pico, because you and Chai are going to be my next volunteers!"

Arsenic walked off the stage and sat on the floor next to Lassi, who immediately laid her head on her shoulder. Pico and Chai wandered up the stairs to the stage and stood next to each other. The dummy peeled itself off the wall and stood to attention. Pico had his turn of punching the dummy and then launched three fireballs at it. Chai, on the other hand, instead swiped the dummy with his tail and then conjured up a ring of spikes, covered with thorns. Everyone else got up to have their turns and Pico sat next to his sister.

"You know what this means, don't you?" He murmured, all knowingly, which was a change for Pico. Arsenic looked at her brother in confusion. "We're going to go to space," he elaborated.

"We are not," Arsenic said, sternly, "If Miss Madeline wants to go out and fight pirates, that's her business. We wouldn't last five minutes."

"I would. Did you see my fireballs? Those pirates wouldn't know what hit them!"

"Except," Mokka interjected, "My database says the pirates all hail from Cassia, the water planet and come from long lasting water sign heritages. So they will all be water signs which are incredibly strong against fire signs."

"Your point is?" Pico scoffed, feigning defiance when really he hadn't been listening.

"They'd beat you up," replied Hyde who had sat out of all the magic demonstrations, on account of his inability to cast magic.

Miss Madeline turned sharply, just as Lassi and Sorbet bounced off the stage. She'd been earwigging on the students conversation whilst teaching the two girls, a skill many worthwhile teachers possessed.

"You're quite right in that water beats fire, but at the same time, fire beats wood."

"Yeah!" Exclaimed Pico with a fistbump to the air, "Take that, Chai!"

Chai looked up irritatedly, whilst finishing off his cheesy snacks and began whispering to Lassi about how much he could definitely tail swipe Pico from one end of the room to the other.

"On the other hand, wood beats wind," Miss Madeline explained, unfurling a scroll which displayed all the various planets and their weaknesses alongside their strengths.

"Sorry Lassi," the wood-signed salamander whispered to the bunny sat bedside him.

"Yet, wind magic beats earth magic."

Lassi looked over to Mokka and gave a threatening line drawn across her own throat and then pointed to him.

"Yet, my earth magic beats water magic!" Mokka pointed out, causing Sorbet to roll her eyes. Miss Madeline nodded enthusiastically, glad her students were taking in all this important information.

"Whilst dark and light magic are strong and weak against each other!"

Arsenic and Hyde looked at each other in confusion.

"Well, how does that work?" Hyde asked, "You can't be strong and weak against something!"

"You'll get her confused!" Pico angrily exclaimed, gesturing wildly towards his sister.

"It's fine," Arsenic replied coolly, "I'll just cast my magic and hope for the best." Truth be told, she was extremely confused, but was definitely going to admit it in front of everyone any time soon.

"Take a look at this chart!" Miss Madeline exclaimed dramatically, only to flip the previous chart over. It showed the planets, slowly orbiting around the sun. The chart was split into five colours, showcasing each planets aura. "When each planet enters its own aura, people of that particular starsign become much stronger! It's easier to see in space, mind, but this chart is connected to space and shows each planets movements!"

Pico squinted at the chart.

"Wait a minute...my planet is the closest to the sun! So it isn't in its aura as much as everyone else's! That's so unfair!"

"But," Hyde pointed out, "The fire planet has the smallest orbit pattern as its closest to the sun. So whilst you won't be aura'd for as long everyone else, you will be aura'd up more often."

Pico opened his mouth to carry on arguing but then decided against it and sat back down.

Miss Madeline individually took everyone through their auras, their weaknesses, their strengths, what their magic could do and what it couldn't do. Everyone sat transfixed, Sorbet hastily making notes, Mokka saving it all into his database, Chai and Lassi gazing in wonderment at the starchart as it moved.

"Why doesn't Kovomaka have a starsign then?" Hyde asked, "And why isn't it on the chart?"

"Kovomaka is one of the tiniest planets in the solar system. Many people don't even know it exists!" their teacher explained, "Despite how big it may seem to us, it doesn't radiate enough power to give its inhabitants starsign. I do wonder what starsign it could possibly be though. We have so many different places here, like the beach and the forest and the desert...I guess we're just too generic!"

"Why are you teaching us all this?" Sorbet asked, "You wouldn't be unless we were going to space too!"

Everyone started chattering excitedly and Miss Madeline tried to calm them all down. Hyde turned to Arsenic.

"Would you go to space?"

"No, I bloody wouldn't," she said, fright in her voice, "There's too much danger out there."

Miss Madeline finally got everyone to be quiet and addressed the group.

"I am going to space alone. Very alone. However, the reason I prepared you students today is because I have a very bad feelings about my upcoming voyage. I'm never one to give into superstitions and silliness like that but I do believe it's best to be prepared. That's why if I don't come home, you all need to know that something has happened to me and that you need to come out and help me. That is all."